Here we go folks, it’s time for the big one. This week on ‘memo to the executives’ I try in vain to go where so many writers and producers (and Mark Millar) have gone before and pitch the best direction to take the man of steel in his next motion picture outing.

And I don’t blame Warner Bros for not having gotten off their proverbial arses and made another one. It’s an incredibly hard challenge to meet at this point. You’re dealing with a character whose origin and mythology are as well known as any piece of literature or historical biography. He is a character whose origin has been recreated (just off the top of my head) in at least nine film/television properties. And as the studio try to bring Superman back to life on film, just as it has been for the last decade, an army of geeks wait patiently on the internet, fingers poised at their keyboards ready to pounce on forums and decry every single decision made because EVERYBODY has an opinion about a new Superman movie and EVERYBODY will think that a great one cannot be made until proven otherwise.

Well fuck them, fuck me and fuck EVERYBODY who feels the need to tell WB how shitty their proposed new Superman film is going to be. As I have said on our podcast, it was listening to us fans that got them in the mess they are in right now. They burned through treatment after treatment, director after director all to try and please us and when they gave us a Bryan Singer directed Superman, we threw it right back in their face and told them it wasn’t good enough. The studio needs to stop mulling over potential ideas, afraid to commit because of how the fan community might react and just make a damn film.

Like I say, I know how hard it must be, faced with the challenge of starting from scratch, having to tell Superman part one again. How do you do that and make it fresh? The answer is simple in my eyes. You make a film that is faithful to the character of Superman but you strip away almost all of the familiar, cliché elements that I personally cannot bear to see on screen again just now. Even without the issue of the current legal entanglements between WB and the estate of creators Jerry Siegel & Joe Shuster, I don’t want to see Krypton exploding again or Ma & Pa Kent looking after Clark on the farm in Smallville or introductory scenes for Lois, Jimmy and Perry at the Daily Planet. And I certainly don’t want Lex Luthor as the villain again. We’ve seen it. It’s old hat. You won’t be able to re-energize Superman by going through those motions again.

If a new Superman film is going to be truly great, it has to start of course with theme and character. Even though it is my favourite film, I will gladly admit that ‘Superman: the movie’ lacks a strong thread of development for the main character sustained through its entirety . That is to say that, unlike the first Spider-man film or ‘Batman Begins’, Superman assumes his mantle and destiny after the first hour or so of the picture. Although he still has to fall in love and overcome great obstacles, Superman is the superhero he will always be after his tutoring by Jor-El in the Fortress of Solitude and heads into the second half of the movie without any further moulding to take place.

If we are going to get a new origin story, give us one where Superman takes an entire film to develop into the character we know and love. The heart of the piece was always that this was a story about an alien whose early life, personality and value system is bestowed, not by his own people but by an all-American couple. It works wonderfully of course but, on film, it robs you of the chance to shape the character over a longer stretch of time. What happens to Kal-El if you take the Kents out of the equation?

I would pitch that a new Superman film borrow one of the messages from the recently rebooted Star Trek and show us a story where, even if a single event occurs differently and changes the entire history of events, the outcome can still end up exactly the same. I’m not suggesting that Earth’s timeline be altered or that Brandon Routh should encounter the new actor playing Superman to warn him about the plot here. What I am pitching is that the film open with Kal-El’s spacecraft approaching Earth’s orbit (you can take for granted that the audience know of past events on Krypton) and just as we think it will land in Kansas as it always does, the ship is knocked off its current trajectory by an unknown force and crashes in the one place that will take the audience complete by surprise (and provide a slam-bam, eye popping opening sequence in the process); the middle of Metropolis.

In the recent comic book ‘Superman: Last Son’ which paired Richard Donner with Geoff Johns, a small boy of apparent Kryptonian origin crash lands in Metropolis and is immediately seized and contained in a US government facility leaving the man of steel to ponder how different his own upbringing would have been if his ship had landed anywhere other than a wheatfield in Smallville. Well here is the chance to make that happen. By showing terrified little Kal-El sealed in a government lab, being endlessly studied, prodded and analysed, you immediately make the audience uneasy (we can even call the lab ‘Cadmus’ for you real fans out there). Everything they know about Superman’s origin is now wrong and anything is possible. As Kal-El grows into adulthood, his powers gradually develop but his knowledge about his past remains almost non-existent. He swears he can remember a voice, the voice of an old man telling him of a great destiny which lies ahead; his earliest memory. Kal-El would give anything to hear it again but the scientists who tear apart his spaceship find no trace of any recording or distinguishable remnant of the child’s home world.

What’s more, the audience knows that with his incredible strength it is only a matter of time before Superman decides he has had enough of being a pet, breaks out of containment and goes on the run, or on the fly if you will. One of my main disappointments with ‘Superman Returns’ was that I never soared with the character in his flying scenes. They didn’t provide the goosebumps of the original film or the test flight in ‘Iron Man’. When Superman first takes flight in this film, the audience has to recognise it as an emotionally powerful moment. In such a confined space, he has been unable to fully test his entire range of powers up to this point but once armed with the knowledge that he can defy gravity, Superman knocks the walls of the facility down, looks out to the world he has never seen before, takes a deep breath and launches himself into the sky for the first time; the ultimate symbolism of freedom.

Despite this small triumph though, Kal-El is still totally alone. He has no idea where he came from or how he is so much more powerful than the people around him. He has no knowledge of the planet he inhabits despite having lived here for many years. His years in confinement have created a feeling of complete and utter mistrust and fear of other life forms. Little does he or anyone realise that this has all been planned and orchestrated by a supremely powerful being observing all of this from the heavens.; the one who knocked Kal-El’s spaceship off course in the first place; the only being who can provide a link to his past; Brainiac.

I’ve been waiting to see Brainiac on film since Superman III (where we got Richard Pryor and his supercomputer instead) and I think he makes the perfect villain for any new Superman film. For one thing, Brainiac has no set definable look. The character has gone through many different incarnations over the years, most of them doable in live action and you are unlikely to get an army of nerds demanding that he look a specific way. Secondly, by the very nature of being a machine like character, you can make Brainiac both the intellectual villain and a physical match for Superman as well; somebody he can actually fight, which is the one criteria every single fan has stipulated by a requirement of the next film.

I always preferred the revised origin that was created for Brainiac on the mid 90’s Superman animated series where the character was actually the A.I. supercomputer and watch guard of the entire planet Krypton, who assures its council that Jor-El’s prediction of its complete destruction is a mistake, shortly before he downloads himself to a satellite and leaves them all to die. I would want to keep that origin for the new film. Brainiac escapes Krypton, having assimilated all of its data but observes the small rocket ship containing baby Kal-El and tracks its progress through the galaxy, seeing the perfect opportunity to use the last son of Krypton as his own cipher to obtain data on, and conquer another planet teeming with completely unique life and civilization.

Brainiac’s spaceship intercepts Kal-El’s craft before it arrives on Earth, stripping it of the memory modules that Jor-El meant for his son to use to discover his past and his future, and throws it back into space ensuring that it will catapult the child into an immediately hostile environment, creating a feeling of mistrust around humans and making it much easier to convince him to side with the supervillain. Having escaped from the government facility, Brainiac rescues Kal-El and on-board his ship, shows the last son of Krypton the data finally revealing his home world and his past. Brainiac also shows Kal-El part of the memory modules that he remembers from childhood, finally being able to hear the voice of his father. Assuring Kal-El that the rest of planet Earth is no more eager to embrace him than the scientists and military who captured him all those years ago, Brainiac offers a proposal. If Kal-El will return to Earth and collate as much date on Earth as he can (in reality just a prelude to invasion), Brainiac will give him the full knowledge he has longed for, and essentially return the love of his father to him.

The idea of a conflicted Superman, a being actually out for himself, and with the power to easily conquer us all is a nice wink back to Siegel & Shuster’s original short story ‘Reign of the Superman’ which cast the Nietzschean figure in a villainous light before they revised the concept and created the character we all know and love. It provides Superman with a journey to go on through the film. Rather than being told to be a good guy by Jor-El, you cut him off from that guiding hand and have the character discover the goodness in the human race all by himself and actually make the choice to be our protector. As Superman returns to Earth on Brainiac’s edict, he sees and hears the chaos of a million and one problems in the world and decides, knowing he has the power, to do something about it. In spite of the fact that he will be fully exposed to the people who captured him in the first place, he makes that choice. He also learns to trust the human race, not from any grand gesture but from a single Earth woman called Lois Lane.

Yes, we can take liberties with the story but we still need Lois and her relationship with the man of steel which brings all of this spectacle and epicness right back down to a human level. I do think that it would be interesting to see her on film for once, not as the feisty fully formed reporter, but as a woman who wants to be that more than anything. She has tried to get her foot in the door of the Daily Planet but to no avail. When she meets Superman, she has the perfect story dropped right into her lap, the one that will get her the career she so desperately wants. Despite his heroic deeds though, Superman wants as little attention from the media as possible. He moves so fast that nobody can snap a clear photo of him and he certainly doesn’t want to give an interview. So here, Lois faces the same kind of temptation and choice that Superman does. As they grow closer, does she keep in confidence all the things he confesses to her about his powers, his weaknesses and Brainiac or does she think about her own needs and turn over the hottest story of the century to a major metropolitan newspaper?

Well what do you think she does? Of course she keeps his secrets and as such, Superman unconditionally trusts his first human friend and wonders if it is possible to be something more with her. With no concrete media coverage, Superman becomes a mythic figure shrouded in secrecy with some even doubting his existence. He is talked about by people in the same way they discuss the Easter Bunny and Santa Claus. But nothing escapes Brainiac’s attention. Realising that the son of Krypton will not now betray the people of Earth, he decides to take the planet by force himself but has to get Superman out of the way. Brainiac appears before the scientists at Cadmus and gives them the tools to take Superman back and permanently contain him.

Now I will concede that it is hard to have a Superman story without some Kryptonite. Just make its introduction into this story feel organic and not overly built up. Everybody in the audience knows what Kryptonite is and they will know how Brainiac, being present at the destruction of Krypton, will have obtained it. And rather than presenting it as the usual green rock, have Brainiac mould it into bullets for the Cadmus personal to use. The supervillain the lands his spaceship on Earth, luring Kal-El to walk right into his trap and before he knows it, Superman is back in his old cell from childhood.

Before Cadmus can realise their folly, Brainiac takes over the planet and Superman, weakened into submission, sees no way to save it. Using those wits that will serve her so well over her future career, Lois tracks Superman to Cadmus and breaks in. Just as the man of steel is ready to succumb to his weakened condition and accept his fate, he sees Lois through the glass of his cell, the one human that he would risk everything and endure anything to save. He finds the strength he needs to break out once again, only this time he doesn’t run into the unknown. He has a purpose and a destiny. With Lois as an advocate, Superman persuades his former captors at Cadmus to help him defeat Brainiac. Transmitting unquantifiable amounts of government data to Brainiac’s computers, Cadmus is able to distract the computers on the ship long enough for Superman to get onboard and face his nemesis in a final showdown to determine which alien life form will preside over the planet Earth, the protector or the tyrant.

Once Brainiac is destroyed (sorry did you think he was going to win?), his ship crashes down in the Artic, out of sight of the people of Earth leaving them to ponder whether Superman has perished with it. He hasn’t of course and retrieving the memory modules of his father and combining them with what remains of the Kryptonian technology on Brainiac’s ship, Superman is able to create his true home on Earth; the Fortress of Solitude. Finally having earned the reward he longed for, Superman is able to speak to his long dead father, truly learn his past and understand why he was sent here in the first place.

Superman returns to Metropolis and before announcing his presence to anyone else, stops by Lois Lane’s apartment to give her that story which will, on top of everything she herself has witnessed, give her that job at the Daily Planet and firmly announce his existence to the entire world. After promising Lois that he will never be far away, Superman flies off and literally keeps true to his word, arriving at his own apartment a few blocks away. There we see an open suitcase containing smart but dull looking civvies, a pair of square rimmed glasses and a rough article containing a first hand account of Superman’s battle with Brainiac written by a certain Clark Kent. As the sun rises in Metropolis, the populace awaken to find their favourite newspaper proudly proclaiming:

“Superman Lives”

And with that, the man of steel himself flies through the city so they can see for themselves that their guardian is watching over them, now and forever.

So hopefully you can see that, though liberties have been taken with the traditional origin, there is nothing to say that those familiar elements cannot be brought back in a sequel. I just firmly believe that a chance needs to be taken at making a different kind of film, with much more of a conflicted central character, a real science fiction orientated villain and a propulsive plot full of action. Then again, as I said at the start of the article, Warner Bros shouldn’t even be listening to me or any of us; they should just make SOMETHING. Once again good friends, my eternal thanks for reading these articles. I appreciate all the comments very much, whether you agree or not.

Reader Comments (21)

I liked the idea of Brainiac's ship becoming the Fortress of Solitude, and the film ending with Supes creating the Clark Kent disguise, but apart from that I really didn't feel your elseworld version of the origin story. Not that it's bad or anything, but I'm a traditionalist and I just don't think that radical of a change would work as it did for Star Trek (which I thought was kinda hokey.)

Yes, Supes needs a better motivation for becoming a hero, and yes showing him in his youth has become old hat, but the very same could have been said for Bruce Wayne on film before Batman Begins. What Superman needs is for someone to expand and build on the traditional origin and make it work for modern audiences. It's been good enough for 70 years, so why not make it great?

I'd like to see something similar to what Batman Begins and Ironman did, start the movie off at the middle of the origin (maybe showing Clark as a runaway from home, traveling the world when he meets a mentor, a Martian Manhunter or even a villain like Eradicator), backtrack to the beginnings (building that solid emotional and humanizing foundation for the character) and then forging ahead with the rest (gets a job in the big city to support Ma and Pa back home where he quickly discovers his powers can be used for good)

But hey, that's my pet version of the origin. Every fan's got one, and I'm sure you can poke hole in mine as well. At the end of the day we're all fans, and we're all in this together.

Not at all sir. I'd be happy for them to follow Batman Begins to the letter if it means we get another Superman film. I wonder what kind of world we are living in sometimes when it's easier to get Ghost Rider 2 made than the next Superman.

Thanks a lot for your comments. You liked two out of thirty of my ideas. That'll do for me.

I've seen most of the Brainiac ideas in that article, suggested on Superman boards at some point. I think the fans have pretty much chosen their main villains at this point. Lex and Brainiac- and a good portion would consider throwing Metallo in the mix as well.

As for having the government discover him first, that could be interesting. I have a spin on it.

I would still include the Kent family because his upbringing helps make him who he is. It could be a government van discovers the ship in Metropolis. They are transporting him as a child, and there is a car wreck. He is the only survivor. Martha and Jonathan are in Metropolis, they see him hooked up to some device/shell and there is a tube going to the belly button that must be pulled off. Maybe the child does not wake until detached from this shell that was inside the ship. They pull him out, the child's eyes open. As they pick him up, they notice the \S/ and take it. They are afraid he is an experiment and the government will do something to him. So they take him back to Smallville with them.

This could be something that Lex Luthor learns, and when Superman finds his way back to Metropolis as an adult he remembers something about the little boy that "vanished"

For a bigger reveal, Lex's family took the spaceship. After Superman encounters Lex for the first time, we see Lex walking to a special room. The doors open, and we see the ship. A light could then come on. First we see kryptonian writing on a screen, then it says "Initializing Language Reconstruction"

I'm not a fan of this story, though I do agree with you that Brainiac should be the next villain used on the big screen because it ties so well with Superman's origin and I loved the whole idea of Brainiac being the guardian of Krypton. I can just imagine a scene in the movie where Brainiac tells superman he betrayed his father and allowed Krypton to be destroyed for his own benefit. I just don't like the idea of Brainiac being a father figure to superman and having superman go to earth on a mission for brainiac. Your idea just changes way to much of superman's origins, you essentially removed the main thing that makes Superman who he is, his parents, Martha and Jonathan Kent. I like Geoff John's stories of Brainiac and really want that humanoid version on the big screen

I would like to keep the Kents as well, but that's just me. I do like the idea of Clark needing to figure things out on his own. I would definitely leave Jor-El out until the end, as you've done. Perhaps the key to using this angle and keeping the "traditional" elements, would be for the government to get a hold of Clark while he's traveling the world as a teen/young adult. Clark could still develop the distrust that you describe, and wonder if his parents were naive in seeing the best in humanity. Basically "humanity" turned on him as soon as they realized he was different. The story would then continue as you said, allowing Clark to discover the good in humanity himself, rather than relying on being told what to do. He could then discover his Kryptonian roots in the sequel.Just another idea.

Lex Luthor is as important a character to the story as Lois or Jimmy. If he isn't the main villain, (and I definitely think he should not be), he should be the guy pulling the strings in the back. He's a member of the supporting cast as much as he is a villain. I think a showdown with Luthor (in his green suit) and Superman for the final movie in a new series of movies would be a thing to behold. Superman vs and Iron Man type character, also subtly jabbing at the fact that Iron Man doesn't hold a candle to this guy. Perhaps the movie could revolve around Luthor using some alien technology to create Metallo as a demo for a cybernetic power source for his suit. The Lexsuit could be a product of perfecting what he did to Metallo.

And yeah, Ma and Pa Kent need to be there in some form. Superman shouldn't just decide upon that name sitting in his apartment.

I honestly think the movies should be a way to showcase the content of the comics. Let the movies be a faithful adaptation of the source material and let the TV shows do the Elseworlds tales like Smallville and The Animated Show or Lois and Clark. Distill the most important elements from the comics like what Johns is doing and portray it on screen in its purest form. People want to see Superman on screen, not some guy calling himself Superman but being an entirely different character than the one they've grown to love. It's why I enjoy Smallville but never take it seriously or hold it to the same light as the comics. Tom Welling will pretty much only ever be the Red-Blue Blur to me because the show is too far gone from what Superman is all about.

Lex Luthor is as important a character to the story as Lois or Jimmy. If he isn't the main villain, (and I definitely think he should not be), he should be the guy pulling the strings in the back. He's a member of the supporting cast as much as he is a villain. I think a showdown with Luthor (in his green suit) and Superman for the final movie in a new series of movies would be a thing to behold. Superman vs and Iron Man type character, also subtly jabbing at the fact that Iron Man doesn't hold a candle to this guy. Perhaps the movie could revolve around Luthor using some alien technology to create Metallo as a demo for a cybernetic power source for his suit. The Lexsuit could be a product of perfecting what he did to Metallo.

"Ma and Pa Kent need to be there in some form. Superman shouldn't just decide upon that name sitting in his apartment. "

No I agree with you. I just wasn't smart enough to find a reason.

You must really feel strongly about Lex being in it. You said so twice. I'm not saying to get rid of Lex permanently. I'd just like to see the first film in a new series without him. There are a fair few people out there who don't seem to think Superman films can seperate themselves from Lex Luthor and deal with other villains. I'd them to be proven wrong......and I don't want two villains sharing the film either.

"People want to see Superman on screen, not some guy calling himself Superman but being an entirely different character than the one they've grown to love. "

Sir, I wish we were getting a sequel that just skipped all the origin stuff and got straight to business but we aren't. I believe that people respond the most to superhero films where the central character goes through the ringer to become the character we all love. What I pitched is simply that; Kal-El becoming Superman in the same way that James Bond becomes 007 by the end of 'Casino Royale'.

Maybe, if this Supes reboot does gangbusters (and for the character, I hope it is) they could leave Luthor out of the first movie and introduce him in the second ala Joker in The Dark Knight. And like The Joker, Luthor would spend the movie upping the gambit for Superman, using his considerable means to orchestrate disasters all over the world, forcing Supes to make tough decisions, all while fueling a smear campaign against the Man of Steel. Luthor's a great villain, but his strengths haven't been portrayed properly on film yet.

I still think Singer should have gotten another chance and brought in Brainiac, because he's such a big threat that I think he would be hard to top for sequels. But since this is reboot talk, I say Eradicator for the first movie, Lex and maybe Metallo or Bizaro for the sequel, and then Brainiac for the third.

Singer messed up too much to be given another chance. Throwing that son in just screwed things up way too much, and the fact that Lois is now with this other guy also screws things up, leaving the son and Lois' bf just takes away more opportunities for action and ends up turning the next movie in the same thing superman returns was, a boring, weird story about Superman trying to get back with Lois.

As for Luthor, i still think he should be in the movie in some form, but he should not be this small time crook who does these dumb realty scams. I duno how they ever thought that this type of villain could even be threatening to superman. Lex Luthor should be in charge of Lexcorp and involved in politics, i also wouldn't mind him and Clark having a past like in Smallville, it would give the Clark Kent side more to do. Brainiac in my mind would be the main villain, there would be a major fight in the middle of the movie, Superman would think that he destroyed Brainiac, but Luthor decides to allow the symbiote or w/e they make it fuse with his body to gain power and kill his nemesis. Im not writer but there were episodes of Superman where lex fuses with Brainiac and i think this could work and would allow them to use Lex is a unique way in film.

I like the idea to use the TAS origin for Brainiac,but this history looks to me like Hyperion and Supreme Power.I believe in a action-thrilling sequel with Brainiac,Bizarro and Luthor,or a rebootl if dont put in the trash the origin of everbody knows.Keeping with the hsitory show in Returns,but with a new look and direction will be more aproproeted.Or put Magog/Gog and the Elite as the villains,and show the same mensage of SR with dark-violent-villains when everbody likes to see,and made a compartion with Superman himself.

Phil, I'm not sure I'm with you on 98% on this, unless it is an elaborate hoax played on Supey. I don't think his basic origins should be messed around with. Also, I still maintain that the next Supey film be a follow up in some form to the Singer film; it should NOT be rebooted in any way, shape or form.

Here is what we do agree on:Lex Luthor should not be in it, and, if so, only mentioned once or twice, but never seen onscreen.It should be a different foe other than Luthor, be it Darkseid, Mytzlyplk, (the hoaxer, BTW) Parasite, Bizarro (another perfect heavy after SR, since green kryptonite strengthens him and there is a whole island of it in space!) or Brainiac.If it is Brainiac, we are also in agreement that the character be at least part AI and may have been dormant for decades, only now coming front and center and the character may have additional Krypton connections. Maybe part of him is made of "crystal Kryptonite" (yes, his crashed ship makes a new fortress, I'm with you there)

Unfortunately for some, fortunately for others, a direct sequel went by the wayside a long time ago. Great ideas Phil, I like that you're thinking outside of the box but still staying traditional. This is a great series of articles and we're happy to have it on TMT.

I think the 'elseworlds' take on Superman is interesting, but no, not for a WB major Superman movie. I feel it's too far out. The Kents are integral to his being. It'd be like taking Aunt May out of Spider-man, or Alfred away from Batman. A little piece of the character's soul is erased. Don't get me wrong i think a traditional re-telling of an origin story is totally redundant. Frankly, re-boot or sequel, i like the idea of Braniac manipulatting, or rather mind-controlling Lex, using his resources(top scientists, geneticists, money etc) to create Doomsday. Having an unconscious and more subtle, in the background Lex would be interesting, and of course we would have fantastic battle opportunties. Whether an interesting story revolving around this premise, with total character development is feasible i'm nopt sure, i haven't thought about it too much-but it would be interesting to see people's perception of sup[erman and his own perception of himself come into question. We would see all that he stands for crumble because there is a being as powerful as him, if not more.

I have always said that Superman is a character that simply doesn't work in modern time because he was created in a vastly different era. I would prefer a more retro Superman movie with Kal-el coming of age/adulthood in the Great Depression, becoming this beacon of hope in the darkest of times. Hell, he becomes a reporter not only for access to the teletype so he knows where he is needed (the god-like ability to hear everything is ridiculous) but also because he knows that the power of the written word to inspire is far more important than using brute strength to change things. He fights injustice but strives to inspire.

The sequel would have Mongul's invasion for the epic battle necessary in a Superman flick and Supes would follow that into the third movie to challenge Darkseid on Apokolips. Due to space time, yada yada, Supes then returns to modern Earth in a fitting way for the fourth film: a character out of place and struggles to find his place. A brilliant arc. Sadly, since WB wouldn't listen to me I started writing my own version with alternate characters and different plots. Not saying I wouldn't still send them a draft. LOL

There's one thing that I learned recently. This WB movie is being sponsored by generic viagra and I don't have anything against this company, but I don't really understand -got my doubts- why are they investing in movies? It's strange, don't you think?

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